Stradella – Complete Violin Sinfonias

Release Date: 2021-06-08
Available now on:

Ewa Anna Augustynowicz, baroque violin & artistic director

Agnieszka Oszańca, baroque cello

Michele Carreca, archlute, theorbo & baroque guitar

Maria Morozova-Meléndez, harpsichord & organ

 

Recording: 10-14 November 2020, Saint Francis Church, Trevi (IT)

Recording producer & sound engineer: Luca Ricci

Editing: Luca Tironzelli

Booklet: Luca della Libera

CD Cover and Photo: Barbara Sandra Pawlukiewicz-Carusotti, Marco Carusotti

Photo of Giardino di Delizie: Sergio Grom

Diapason: 392Hz

 



ASSOCIAZIONE L’ARCHETTO-APS for the organization of the rehearsals in Rome and the recording in Trevi

THE TOWN HALL OF TREVI for letting us the use of the Saint Francis Church for the recording,

CLAUDIO PINCHI for the rental of the organ from his collection http://www.pinchi.com 

URBANO PETROSELLI for rental of the harpsichord from his collection https://www.urbanopetroselli.com



RADIO TRANSMISSIONS:

RADIO FRANCE MUSIQUE
https://www.francemusique.fr/emissions/en-pistes/les-symphonies-de-tchaikovski-par-paavo-jaervi-et-le-tonhalle-orchester?fbclid=IwAR3QG8PW_0HAvo81t5dzTWswdt0may74bI_rPbN3x8tgxbUNqAgRXxBUCTs

RADIO RAI “Primo Movimento”
https://www.raiplayradio.it/audio/2021/06/PRIMO–MOVIMENTO-c9f6b219-e994-4c25-ae45-f4c19ee5dfac.html?fbclid=IwAR192MGhLa-eolKNKlkNdGneU6X0anlY7n8LFgGimGtqs4SYeuw0hIVuTzg

RADIO CLASSICA “Stravaganze Barocche”
https://soundcloud.com/radioclassica/podcast-stravaganze-barocche-14062021?fbclid=IwAR1vZNfF3LJg3S3jCmTtaNAD1LcQSKgfnDaUWZJot6K_-P0mb8u2YNYSh4w

RADIO VATICANA “Lo Scrigno Musicale” 15.10.2021
https://www.vaticannews.va/it/podcast/radio-vaticana-musica/lo-scrigno-musicale/2021/10/lo-scrigno-musicale-15-10-2021.html?fbclid=IwAR30WPNAp0TjgNGwscvkaQ35G0-oURjrX52gjBEwF5KJ0XNAjOgXC_DUCj4Musica dei Donum

 

 

Album Review

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MUSICA 04/2023
Ci sono due elementi ricorrenti, quasi un programmatico fil rouge, nell’attivita` discografica dell’Ensemble Giardino delle Delizie, fondato a Roma nel 2014 e diretto artisticamente dalla violinista, polacca di nascita ma ormai di stanza a Roma, Ewa Anna Augustynowicz. Il primo, evidenziato dalle foto delle copertine, e` una scelta di genere: difatti l’ensemble e` rigorosamente al femminile (salvo nello Stradella il raro inserimento di un tiorbista). I nomi, intorno a quello della Augustynowicz, sono quelli di Katarzyna Solecka (violino barocco), Svetlana Fomina (violino e viola barocchi), Agnieszka Oszanca (violoncello barocco), Giorgia Zanin (tiorba e chitarra barocca), Elisabetta Ferri (organo e cembalo) e Anna Skorupska (seconda viola ospite). Da questo elenco si evince il secondo elemento ricorrente, ovvero la identita` nazionale, per lo piu` polacca (del resto non a caso tra i finanziatori del progetto figurano l’Istituto Mickiewicz, l’Istituto polacco di Roma, quello di Du¨ sseldorf, di Vienna e Berlino e la Societa` polacca dei compositori).
I primi due CD prodotti dall’Ensemble rosa riguardano un cofanetto con l’integrale delle quattordici Sinfonie di Alessandro Stradella (la numerazione viene dall’edizione critica della compianta Carolyn Gianturco), la seconda incisione e` un sapido florilegio di pezzi di autori polacchi (Marcin Mielczewski e Adam Jarzebski) o ispirati alla tradizione polacca (musiche ‘‘polonesi’’ o ‘‘alla polacca’’ di Telemann, Carlo Farina, Johann Valentin Meder, Tarquinio Merula attivo a Varsavia, Giovanni Matteo Picchi e Johann Heinrich Schmelzer). Le due produzioni fanno seguito alle Sinfonia a tre di Lelio Colista, alle Gemme del barocco polacco e alle Sinfonie di Lonati, tutte realizzate con Brilliant Classics. Se piu` ovvia – seppur sempre interessante per gli spunti ornamentali e contrappuntistici e per la qualita` dell’eloquio strumentale, sempre ben colto dall’ensemble romano – appare l’integrale stradelliana (sempre gradevoli le diminuzioni e il colore vintage degli strumenti), una curiosita` variegata appare il CD ‘‘alla polacca’’ che avvicina le tradizioni musicali di diversi paesi. Esiste in verita` una intensa attivita` in tal senso svolta brillantemente da anni dall’Ensemble barocco di Wroclaw diretto da Andrzej Kosendiak (musiche di Szarzynski, Zebrowski, Zielenski, Ro´ z˙ycki) gia` segnalata ripetutamente su queste stesse colonne, ma il fatto che questa riscoperta sia opera di un ensemble misto attivo in Italia non puo` che fare piacere. Alla sussiegosa ed intensa eleganza di Stradella, succede qui una verve trascinante in cui si avvertono spesso echi di una tradizione popolare. Insomma, una musica dinamica, chiaroscurata, vivace che cattura all’ascolto.
Lorenzo Tozzi

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American Guide Record Nov/Dec 2021
STRADELLA: Violin Sinfonias Ensemble Giardino de Delizie Brilliant 96079—116 minutes
American Record Guide Nov/Dec 2021
Alessandro Stradella (1643-1682) was one of the leading lights of the Italian baroque before Arcangelo Corelli. His music is inventive and melodious, and he is distinguished for inventing the concerto grosso. These Violin Sinfonias would be called Violin Sonatas today, and they are some of the finest written by an Italian before Corelli’s epoch-making Opus 5 set published on New Year’s Day 1700.
Ensemble Giardino de Delizie are period performance practitioners and are led by violinist Ewa Anna Augustynowicz. These performances are first rate, and the sound is absolutely gorgeous. I cannot imagine how this could be improved on. Snatch this up if you love Italian baroque.
MAGIL

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Fanfare 2022 Jan/Feb
The performances sing and are thick with communicative power and atmosphere. The recording venue, the Saint Francis Church in Trevi, Italy, makes a difference too. Any admirer of mid-period Baroque music should give this a try.

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https://magazin.klassik.com/reviews/reviews.cfm?TASK=REVIEW&RECID=37641&REID=20064&fbclid=IwAR30x4o46RnRg3G0cJDTMBwHBtcyLD7HJ3qO3U0d8VGyKSwM0ZyLWjGhQf4
Diederich Lueken
"Die Affekte, die der Komponist dem Ensemble anvertraut, werden erkannt und ausmusiziert. Die Virtuosität, die an einigen Stellen gefordert wird, ist für Ewa Anna Augustynowicz kein Problem – im Gegenteil: Wenn es die Faktur des jeweiligen Stückes erlaubt, bringt sie leise und doch unüberhörbar rasche Verzierungen an. Aber auch die Cellistin Agnieszka Oszanca brilliert mit ihrem Barockcello – das kann man mit Fug und Recht auch von den beiden verbliebenen Generalbass-Spielern behaupten."

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https://earlymusicreview.com/stradella-complete-violin-sinfonias/
D. James Ross
"In keeping with the music of a man who knew how to live dangerously, there is a wonderful almost improvisatory spontaneity about these performances, which incorporate inspired ornamentation. In the Sinfonias a tre, in effect trio sonatas, the archlute takes the second melodic voice while the organ plays continuo, an approach which works very well indeed. Instrumental music is only a very small part of Stradella’s output, but his confident writing for this chamber ensemble with its vividly wayward approach to harmonic progressions and mercurial changes of rhythm is wonderfully engaging, especially when played with such imaginative musicality as it is here. Augustynowicz plays a warm-toned and declamatory Baroque violin by the Ravenna maker, Marco Minnozzi."

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Musica dei Donum
Johan van Veen (© 2021)
"Stradella may have been mainly active as a composer of vocal music, these sinfonias - and those for two violins - are certainly not minor works. They are serious and important contributions to the instrumental repertoire of the late 17th century, and they are taken as such by the Ensemble Giardino di Delizia, which delivers excellent and often exciting performances. This production is the perfect sequel to the above-mentioned disc of the Ensemble Arte Musica."

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November 2021 Opus Klassiek
© Harry-Imre Dijkstra
"Ewa Anna Augustynowicz, soliste en leidster van het Ensemble Giardino di Delizie... maar haar wat dikke en onbuigzame viooltoon brengt ruim voldoende leven aan in de melodieën. Het vibrato is aan de erg zuinige kant en ook de versieringen en omspelingen binnen het kader zijn niet uitbundig. De ruime akoestiek van de kerk waarin de opname plaatsvond biedt weinig plaats voor intimiteit, iets dat toch wel wenselijk is bij deze kamermuziek. De uitvoeringen van de Sinfonias a tre brengen toch wel de meeste wensen bij elkaar: een prettig en gemakkelijk spelend ensemble dat veel afwisseling brengt in de instrumentale kleuren en met rust, precisie en beheerste geestdrift de bijzondere kwaliteiten van Stradella's muziek onderstreept."

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September 2021 Melomano
Por José Prieto Marugán
"El Ensemble Giardino di Delizie, conjunto femenino de origen polaco, fundado en 2014 por Anna Augustynowicz, tiene su sede en Roma, ciudad desde la que ha recorrido toda Europa. Ofrece interpretaciones de carácter historicista y presta especial atención a la música polaca. En este disco intervienen, además de su directora, Agnieszka Oszarica, violonchelo barroco, Michele Carreca, archilaúd, tiorba y guitarra barroca, y María Morozova-Meléndez, clave y órgano. Todas ellas ofrecen una interpretación interesante, conjuntada, destacando colores y planos sonoros.
El álbum, grabado en noviembre de 2020, en la Iglesia de San Francisco de Trevi (Italia), tiene una sonoridad rica y con la adecuada presencia instrumental. En conjunto, un disco para descubrir la música de un interesante compositor."

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June 2021 Musicalifeiten.nl
"In het oeuvre van Stradella nemen deze werken een ondergeschikte plaats is, maar dat betekent niet dat ze minder mooi zijn. In tegendeel: ze zijn bijzonder en het is geheel aan Ewa Anna Augustynowicz en Agnieszka Oszance (vc), samen met Michele Carreca (aartsluit, theorbe, barokgitaar) en Maria Morozova-Meléndez (kl, org) te danken dat het ook als zodanig klinkt. Weer een goede daad verricht, want behalve van het Ensemble Arte Musica onder Francesco Cera ook op Brilliant Classics (95142), maar met andere, doch gelijksoortige werken uit 2015 zijn er geen cd alternatieven."

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9 June 2021 Pizzicato Music Magazine
*****5 star review
„Giardino di Delizie is convincing in its elegant élan, its sense of appropriate tempi and the works’ tonal idiosyncrasies, which transmits all the music’s vibrations and reminds us that the basso continuo is the backbone of this music. This should not prevent us from highlighting the rhetoric of soloist Ewa Anna Augustynowicz“